Fleet Marine Life #125 – The Hill
To be awarded the Bronze Star, one does not need to be in combat. Silver Star and above? Sure. But not the Bronze Star.
The military used to hand it out like candy during the Vietnam War to officers.
According to the link below, this medal is: a personal decoration originally intended for valorous service. By the end of the 20th Century it was being given out for many non-combat acts, it even became known as the “officers’ good conduct medal”. The value of the award was deflated so much that a metal “V” device to be worn on the medal’s suspension ribbon was issued to indicate valor.
http://www.answers.com/topic/bronze-star-medal
Today, in order to get a bronze star for combat, you have to do something worth a Silver Star. And to get a silver star, you need to do something worth a Navy Cross.
Today, the US only has 3 living Medal of Honor recipients after almost a decade of fighting in 2 wars.
Nothing but hills since 1775.
Tons of Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medals were handed out back in 2005 when I deployed. They were basically re-enlistment rewards. If you made it known you weren’t re-enlisting, you were less likely to get something.
The crazy this is that President Kennedy got a NAM in WWII for saving another sailor’s life while evading capture over several days. Guys in my platoon got them for being the acting foreman for a day on a construction site.
One day we paused our work because the unit we were building SWA Huts for had a formation. The SSgt got a NAM for being a recruiter a year earlier. The Lt. got a NAM for taking his platoon through CAX.
Meanwhile, marines I worked with volunteered to sweep roads with a recon unit. You know what I got? Denied the Red Cross request to go home and be with my new baby. After the birth my wife almost died, but fuck me, right? After all, I’m not interested in re-enlisting, or lying about how I’m going to.
fuckin POG. there’s no hill in Iraq.
Thanks for the free geography lesson.
We had a 1st Sgt who was worse than this. He did this exact same thing for field ops when we were at Pendleton. That bag of ass always stayed behind in his room conditioned office. Never once did that nasty POS do a field op. He never did company or battalion PT and the always found a way to avoid hikes. The only thing he ever did was show up to briefings and NJP Marines.